Monster Hunter Wilds Beta Is Now Live, Draws Over 250K Concurrent Players
Monster Hunter Wilds' second open beta has already hit a major milestone. Ahead of its launch on February 28, 2025, Monster Hunter Wilds has held two open beta testing periods, the first in October and the second beginning just yesterday, on February 6. Although mainly used to test the game's performance and online stability ahead of its full release, the beta tests have served as excellent advertisements for Monster Hunter Wilds, getting players talking about the many changes it makes to the Monster Hunter formula.
And players have turned out in numbers for the second beta test: as noticed by @Okami13_ on X (formerly Twitter), the second Monster Hunter Wilds beta had a Steam player count of over 225,000 players in its first 24 hours of launch. At the time of writing, it's soared even higher, with a whopping peak player count of 258,737, according to SteamDB. And that's just Steam: add PS5 and Xbox hunters to the mix, and there's no knowing how high that number might go.
Three Weeks Before Launch, Monster Hunter Wilds Is Already Popular
MH Wilds' Beta Tests Have Been A Huge Hit
Monster Hunter Wildsis still a ways away from launch, but it's already proven very popular. 250,000 players is a huge milestone in any game's opening weekend. That'd put it in the number five spot on Steam's most-played charts for the day, knocking Rust down a peg and settling into place just below Marvel Rivals.
That's especially impressive for an open beta, that has maybe a few hours' worth of content at the most. The beta being free definitely helps - it's a lot easier to drum up player engagement when there's no $70 buy-in. But at the same time, the beta is strictly limited to this weekend; the fact that so many players have made the time to check it out speaks volumes about player interest in Monster Hunter Wilds at this early stage.
Can't get to the open beta this weekend? Don't worry - there'll be a second round beginning on February 13.
And frankly, these numbers are nothing compared to the first beta's peak player counts, which were well over 450,000 at their peak on November 1. Quite a few of the second beta's players are probably returning from that first one, looking to see how Monster Hunter Wilds has improved since then.
Monster Hunter Has Earned Its Laurels
World & Rise Set The Stage
It's amazing to see how massive Monster Hunter has become in the past few years. While it's perennially popular in Japan and has always had a bit of a cult following in the US, ever since the release of World, it's gained a monstrous following. Rise's release on the Switch only helped bring the series to a wider audience, and I was thrilled when it first went multi-platform. I've sunken a lot of hours into Monster Hunter as a whole, but perhaps more than ever into those two games, and I couldn't be happier to watch the series thrive.
I don't necessarily expect this player count to carry over directly into launch. Some players won't like what they see in the beta - that's inevitable - and just won't get into the full game. Some won't want to buy it right away. But even a fraction of this player count is enough to carry Monster Hunter Wildsthrough its early days, which bodes well for its community.
Sources: @Okami13_/X, SteamDB, Steam
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